NUCLEAR
OPTION!!!

Everyone Needs This Image Burned Into Thier Brain

Interrogations

So, now that terrorists and suspected terrorists don't get tortured any longer in military detention facilities, why do Republicans think those interrogators will be more successful than FBI trained interrogators who specialize in interrogating terrorists?

Brown Wins Massachusettes Senate Seat

Yesterday, Fox and Friends suggested a Brown win was good for your 401k as highlighted by Media Matters.



A few days ago, Jim Cramer on Mad Money suggested a Brown win would be great for the stock market.





Here is the final result of Brown's win on the Markets.


Results? Epic Fail!

Haiti Needs Your Help

It's as easy as picking up your phone.

By texting HAITI to 90999 you can send $10 to the Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund.

What Drives a Young, Well Off Male To Become a Jihadist and How Does it Relate to Closing Guantanimo?

What drives the son of a wealthy Nigerian Banker to become a jihadist? Is there a direct link between the motivation to become a terrorist and the detention center at Guantanamo Bay?

President Obama believes there is. This is why on Jan. 22, 2009, he directed it be shut down via Executive Order.

Ever since then, Republicans have been arguing we would be less safe by closing it. Well, a recent post by Justin Elliot, at TPM Muckracker, highlights two articles by both The New York Times and TimesOnline.co.uk that explain how the undie-bomber was president of an Islamic Society which held a 'War on Terror Week.' while in University.

Here is the poster which advertised this event:


Regarding the poster, Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic's blog, The Daily Dish, stated "Almost all of it is about torture and Gitmo."

It's not difficult to connect the dots. This could very well have been one of the triggers, that can turn a well off, educated student, to become a jihadist, looking to blow up an airplane over U.S. soil.

Extreme poverty and little to no formal education are often highlighted as demographics in which Al-Qaeda looks to recruit. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was clearly neither of these. What drove this student over the edge? I haven't seen who initiated the contact, Al-Qaeda or Abdulmutallab. Regardless of this fact, one thing that is clear. This student was very involved in Muslim causes and one of those his group focused on was Guantanamo Bay.

It's time for Republicans to stop playing politics with our safety and let the President close Guantanamo Bay. This is all the evidence the American people need to put this issue to rest once and for all.

November Home Sales Soar 7.4 Percent

"Home resales surged last month to the highest level in nearly three years, reflecting an extraordinary level of federal support that has pulled the housing market back from the worst downturn since the Great Depression."

Read more at: The Associated Press

That's change I can believe in.

Good News of the Day

"PRINCETON, NJ -- The average amount of money Americans predict they will spend on Christmas gifts this season is now $743, up from last month's estimate and a healthy increase over Americans' Christmas spending forecast at this time a year ago.

...

The $743 Americans now predict they will spend on gifts this season is a substantial increase over the $639 they reported a year ago, and also higher than what they predicted in November of this year. Based on Gallup's model, this should translate into a significant swing in actual holiday retail sales. Instead of the 3.4% decline holiday retailers saw in 2008, they can likely expect a slight improvement in sales this year, on the order of 1%."

Read more at Gallup

Good News of the Day

I'm going to start posting one a day if I find the time since it appears nobody else is interested in doing so.

"The balance has shifted: More states reported declining unemployment in November than posted increases, according to a government report released Friday.

The national unemployment rate improved to 10% last month as joblessness fell in 36 states and the District of Columbia, according to the Labor Department's survey on state unemployment. The rate rose in eight states and held steady in six."

Read more at: 36 States Reporting Declining Unemployment/

Keep Things in Perspective Dems

I'm not asking Progressives to drop their convictions but rallying your peers to not vote in 2010 will have one result, and that is to never see any sort of laws coming out of Congress that remotely resemble something you would want enacted, because Republicans are going to trounce all over the Dems if enthusiasm is crushed beyond repair.

Carry on....

Increases in Consumer Spending According to Gallup

I was looking at Gallup's 14 day rolling averages of consumer spending since they noted this year was down %21 from last year last week and I noticed something that seems promising.



If you look at last December, starting in November, from the lowest spending to when it peaked in January, it went from $74 to $87. That's a 17.5% gain.

So far this year, the increase has gone from a low in November of $63 to its current $72. That's an increase of 14.2% in spending so far and we aren't even done with Christmas spending so far.

We'll know in a few weeks if spending increased at a greater pace than last year during the same period.

(Updated December 19)

This years spending peaked a little later. Last year we peaked on December 5th. This years peaked on December 13th. We went from a low of $63 mid November at the start of the increase to a high of $79 dollar on the 14 day average on Gallup. That's a gain of of 25.3% in spending. The three day averages seem to be spiking less during this Holiday season as compared to last year. Lastly, last year the U.S. peaked at $87 and this year we peaked at $79 on the 14 day average. This means at peak time spending, there was only a 9% drop in peak spending compared to the 21% previously reported by Gallup as I noted at the top of this post.

A Message From our Troops in Afghanistan

Back in early October, Spencer Ackerman from his blog had linked to this blog requesting supplies for the soldiers who's forward operating base was destroyed during a twelve hour intense firefight with Taliban forces on the bordering region with Pakistan. Because of the quick response generated and due to people like Spencer Ackermann and others pointing to the blog, the troops were able to quickly resupply themselves with the goods they need to get back out there and finish the job they signed up to do.

I thought I'd share the letter of appreciation so others that may have played a part could read it.

Dear Black Knight Troop Supporters,

On behalf of the Black Knight FRG, 3-61 Cavalry, we want to thank you for your generous donation. Your support provides great strength for our soldiers in Afghanistan and the families back home.

October 3, 2009 is a day that we will never forget. The attack on Combat Outpost (COP) Keating and Observation Post (OP) Fritsche was a hard-fought battle and has changed the lives of so many of our soldiers and their families. We will always remember the lives of SGT Joshua Kirk, SGT Justin Gallegos, SGT Joshua Hardt, SPC Michael Scusa, SPC Christopher Griffin, SPC Stephan Mace, PFC Kevin Thomson, and SGT Vernon Martin. Their service to our country and their sacrifices will never be forgotten.

Each soldier in Black Knight troop is a true American hero. As the soldiers were focused on surviving during more than 12 hours of intense combat, more than 70% of their buildings caught fire. As you know, many lost everything they had. Please know that your donations and quick response helped our soldiers get back on their feet quickly. They are strong soldiers who have become closer through this very challenging time.

Your support has given all the families back home peace of mind that their soldiers are being very well taken care of. We appreciate your kindness and generosity. Thank you for your patriotism and support to Black Knight Troop, 3-61 CAV.

Sincerely,
Black Knight FRG

Show a Little Backbone America

The same party that is pushing for military tribunals to try and convict Khalid Sheik Mohamed rather than try him in Federal Courts in NYC are the same party that are now not confident to allow the military justice system enough time to investigate, try and convict Maj Hasan, the shooter that went on a rampage at Ft. Hood Texas.

The same party that breathlessly speaks of endless wars and the courage of our country is now trying to stoke fear in the minds of Americans when talk of housing Guantanamo detainees in a Supermax facility in Illinois comes up.

Enough!

It's time for Democratic leaders to stand up to this petty fear mongering and let the American population know we won't cower to the fear terrorists hope to bestow upon us.

It appears President Obama and AG Eric Holder have done just that in an article by the Associated Press this morning.

In the article, Obama stated "I think this notion that we have to be fearful that these terrorists possess some special powers that prevent us from presenting evidence against them, locking them up and exacting swift justice, I think that has been a fundamental mistake." In the same article President Obama declared 'those offended by the legal privileges being given to Mohammed by trying him in a civilian court ultimately won’t find it "offensive at all when he’s convicted and when the death penalty is applied to him."

Eric Holder echoed this sentiment when he said “We need not cower in the face of this enemy...Our institutions are strong, our infrastructure is sturdy, our resolve is firm, and our people are ready.”

That's what I'm talking about.

Cleaning out this legal mess left by the previous administration is going to be a cumbersome process since many of the detainees were treated in ways that violated both the Geneva Convention and The United Nations Convention Against Torture signed and championed by Ronald Reagan. I don't think many realize the legal minefield Cheney set. It could take decades to unwind this mess.

Trying and convicting these criminals is all part of it and every American should find the courage in them to stand behind the laws and courts of this country and have faith in our justice system to either put these cowards behind bars indefinitely or execute them.

Nixon Bows to Mao

What a Socialist, Communist, Marxist appeaser Nixon was!

When Did The Housing Bubble Start?

There has been plenty of blame to go around lately as to who is responsible for the burst. Conservatives seem quick to try and lay blame on a combination of obscure statements Barney Frank made while in the minority and had no control over which legislation came to vote in the committee and the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 which encouraged lending agencies to lend to low to medium income individuals. Some even like to jump to the conclusion that Fannie and Freddie were primarily responsible when it's clearly reported they played a minimal role in the collapse.

One of the more accurate accurate depictions I've run across of exactly what happened to cause the final burst is this Jonathan Jarvis video, The Crisis of Credit. It explains how the large investment firms perpetuated the massive bubble by encouraging lending to just about anyone to keep the revenue momentum flowing.



There were some players that profited greatly off of the downturn as noted by Michael Lewis, the author of Liars Poker, who discussed the scandals of 1980's Wall Street bond market. Michael Lewis recently chronicled how Goldman Sachs and Deutche Bank worked to short housing markets overwhelmingly invested in by Merryl, Lehman and UBS in his Nov. 11, 1009 article in Portfolio.com, entitled The End.

On Nov. 1, 2009, McClatchy has reported that Goldman Sachs peddled more than 40 billion (that's 40 with nine of these 0). GS has been at the forefront of this crisis.

Just to wrap up these last two paragraphs. Goldman Sachs basically assisted in perpetuating the bubble then profited greatly on the crashing bubble. You've got to give it to them. They came out ahead of just about everyone. It's a shame they couldn't have given their ex-CEO Henry Paulson, head of the SEC during the crash, a heads up.

Maybe this fiasco could have been prevented.

Maybe they all really didn't realize just how much global exposure there was to CDO's and the AAA bonds they created that were being invested into from banks to individuals to firms managing retirement funds. But I doubt it. But this is not why I wrote this article. I wrote it because I wanted to get to the bottom of when did the housing bubble start.

At around the time of the crash, I got curious as to when this housing bubble began. I ran across this chart. It's clear the bubble began around 1997. I then used the trustworthy Google to see if there was any significant tax code passed or financial laws passed that may have accounted for this.




I ran across a law that fit my requirements to a T. A law that no doubt helped millions of Americans to sell their homes and upgrade to even larger ones at savings never seen in modern times. A law that changed the behavior of home owners from one of buying a home to live in to buying a home as a future investment, only to be sold years later at record profits. This was repeated over and over by millions of people across the United States. The law was the part of the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997. A certain provision of this law allowed for profits of home sales to be tax free at levels of 250k for individuals and 500k to couples.

I am not the first person to suggest this. After doing some research it appears others have come to this conclusion. Vernon Smith, a Nobel Laureate in Economics and Professor at George Mason University. Mr. Smith wrote an article for the WSJ calling this the Clinton housing bubble.

Now, I'm not saying I won't benefit greatly from this tax code in the event I choose to sell nor that this tax has undoubtedly benefited millions of Americans across the U.S. What I am saying in this. This tax code, unbeknownst to those signing off on it, created one of the largest bubbles in our economy in modern times that ended up turning into a crash so large it almost took the worlds financial systems with it when the bubble burst.

Crisis averted for now. Question is, will someone be watching for the next bubble?